This blog is an attempt to preserve, document & share Pakistan's contemporary & traditional culinary heritage. It tells stories and shares recipes from my maternal grand mother and mother's kitchens along with my own stories and memories of growing up in Pakistan.

Saturday, 16 February 2013

Channa Daal & GT Road

Whoever has traveled on GT Road in
Pakistan knows what a driver hotel or a Manji hotel is. Four words: Truck drivers, plenty of Manjis(Punjabi word
for beds), karak doodh patti and affordably epic desi food. That’s where
all the long haul trucks make stops to eat, drink and rest before heading to
another stretch of their tiring trucking journeys. The GT Road or The Grand
Truck road is South Asia’s oldest and the longest road originally built to link
eastern & western regions of sub-continent. The road was rebuilt by Sher
Shah Suri in 16th Century. This road is still an integral part of
road network in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

Before Islamabad – Lahore Motorway
was built in 1997; GT Road was the only way to get in to Rawalpindi from any
other part of Punjab. My only living grand parents lived in Rawalpindi and
regardless of where we were posted in Pakistan due to my father’s job, summer
holidays were spent with my grandparents in Rawalpindi meaning traveling on GT
Road was a must. At Lala Musa on GT Road (half way between Lahore and
Rawalpindi) there was (and still is) a truck restaurant named Mianjee restaurant.
The place is known for its Channa Daal(Chickpea Lentil) and parathay. I have
never forgotten the taste of that daal/Lentil. It has taken me many attempts in
kitchen and a lot of effort to come up with a taste for Channa daal close
enough to Mianjee’s daal. Here is the recipe. This version of daal is served with home made chappati - flat bread or Tandoori Roti.

Now
add 500 ml of water and half of curry leaves and let the lentils boil on high
heat.

As
soon as it starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cover the pan for
30-35 mins.

Mix
from time to time and check the amount of water as well as the tenderness of the
Lentil.

This
lentil takes a long time to cook and soaking it overnight considerably reduces
the cooking time. If the lentil still
has a bite after 30 mins of cooking then add 200 ml of water. Let it simmer on low flame
till it is completely cooked and Lentil is soft.

Leave
some liquid as the gravy. The Lentil will soak it up later as it cools down.

Now
sprinkle Dried Kasuri Methi and mix the daal.

Dish
the daal/Lentil in to a bowl.

Do
a tarka on daal with the ingredients mentioned earlier. Butter is the magic
ingredient here.